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be happy about their competltive economic situation. It's also a
question of finding out whether the poor have access to the market,
or if they have access to credit, or if they have access to good labor
legislation . We found out that, in fact , they don't.
KA :
What, in your opinion, are the prospects for the peace plan that
President Arias of Costa Rica has proposed for Central America?
HS:
I think that all avenues to peace are respectable. Plans are tested
in the field , however. Let's see whether the plan works. I wish Presi–
dent Arias the best with this process .
KA :
What do you think the United States should be doing with
respect to Nicaragua?
HS:
I don't really know that much about Nicaragua. I read about
Nicaragua in the same way, probably, that most United States citi–
zens do , in general magazines. What I do think, however, that is im–
portant, is that a lot of other Nicaraguas are on their way. One of
them could be a country such as mine, where already more than 32
percent of the population freely votes Communist, without anyone
forcing them to do so.
What I'm most concerned with is in seeing how we can avoid
future Nicaraguas, whether in the Philippines, in Peru, in El Salva–
dor, etcetera, and I think a lot of that has to do with how poor peo–
ple , who are the majority of our country , view the opportunities and
the chances they have at happiness and prosperity. What we've indi–
cated through our research is that when they're angry and frustrated ,
they're absolutely right to be angry and frustrated because they don't
have those opportunities.
So I would say that , for the moment, your concern may be
Nicaragua, but if you dedicate too much effort to Nicaragua and
forget the rest of Latin America, you may find out that five years
from now you've got more than one Nicaragua on your hands . You
may have close to five or six . So , even though Nicaragua may be a
legitimate concern of the United States and all citizens of the world ,
let's just try to make sure that we don't get that kind of a dictatorship
in other Latin American countries, by finding out what caused the
Nicaraguas instead of trying to figure out how to get the communists
out once they've gone down the drain .
KA :
Thank you , Mr. de Soto .
HS:
It was my pleasure .
